Entries categorized "Ballot Referendas and Initiatives"

More than 140,000 Arizona citizens signed the petitions for a referendum of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to refer HB 2305 to the voters of Arizona to decide the issue. The repeal legislation passed by our Tea-Publican legislature would void the referendum and once again deprive the voters of Arizona of their constitutional right to vote to decide this issue.

Today Governor Jan Brewer completed the skullduggery of the Tea-Publicans in the legislature, depriving the voters of Arizona of their constitutional right to vote to decide this issue. Gov. Brewer signs elections-overhaul repeal: Governor Jan Brewer signed House Bill 2196 Thursday. The action cancels a November election where voters would have had the final say.

Sure 'nuf, here is the "editorial board" of the Arizona Republic arguing in favor of wage theft from retirees -- keep in mind this is deferred compensation that these employees bargained for in good faith and have earned by performing their end of the bargain. They are entitled to receive payment in exchange for their performance. Reform pensions or lose them:

The Arizona Supreme Court just handed an enormous past-due bill to taxpayers.

The state Legislature’s attempt in 2011 to rein in the costs of poorly performing pension plans is unconstitutional, according to the justices. The Arizona constitution forbids reducing public-pension benefits, which effectively means that no matter how high the costs go, taxpayers simply will have to find a way to pay them.

As a result, the pension board will have to pay out $7.9 million to bring the tab current for beneficiaries of the Elected Officials’ Retirement Plan, a part of the state’s worst performing pension trust, the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System.

The ruling also applies to other beneficiaries of the PSPRS whose benefits were temporarily curtailed. That adds another $32.1 million for retroactive raises. The system will set aside $335.6 million to fund cost-of-living adjustments going forward.

* * *

The 5-0 Supreme Court decision may be perfectly rational and predictable — a constitutionally guaranteed promise made must be kept, after all. But it leaves Arizona taxpayers in a position of disturbing vulnerability, one that begs for a constitutional amendment that will allow lawmakers to make the sorts of changes the justices now say they cannot.

The Arizona Republic, formerly known as The Arizona Republican, and the mouthpiece of the establishment Republican Party in Arizona, is schizophrenic when it comes to your constitutional rights to a citizens referendum and voting.

Coliumnist E.J. Montini published Voters can suppress the suppressors: "The only way voters can guarantee it never happens again is to note of every politician who goes along with the scheme and, when those names appear next on the ballot box, suppress their re-election."

But the "editorial board" of The Republic has twice now published editorial opinions essentially telling the voters of Arizona to "go screw yourself."

Our lawless legislature continues to demonstrate its contempt for the citizens of Arizona and their constitutional right to refer an act of the legislature to the voters to decide in a citizens referendum ("citizens veto"). The larger context here is its utter contempt for democracy and the right to vote.

More than 140,000 Arizonans braved the heat of an Arizona summer to circulate and sign petitions to refer HB 2305, the GOP Voter Suppression Act, to the ballot in November to let the people decide on what the legislature enacted as a "strike everything" amendment in the dead of night when no one was watching. There was no public notice, and no public hearing before a committee.

The Arizona Senate has voted to repeal a sweeping 2013 Arizona election law that included trimming the state’s permanent early voting list and a host of other provisions that incensed voter-rights advocates.

Majority Republicans who pushed House Bill 2305 through last June voted Thursday to repeal the law 17-12. The House passed an identical bill last week. The bill will now go to the governor.

ALEC's Stealth Convention

"AJR 81 comes right out of the 'Convention of States' workshop and materials presented at ALEC where state legislators were promised bundled campaign contributions and grassroots support if they joined this effort to amend the federal constitution," said Rep. Chris Taylor, a Madison Democrat who attended ALEC's Annual Meeting in Chicago last summer, in a statement. "I am alarmed that this effort is now making its way through the Wisconsin legislature and is tentatively scheduled to be considered by the full Assembly next Tuesday."

HB2305 Update!

We need your help on Monday, Feb. 17

Thanks to your help, and the signatures of over 144,000 Arizonans, the harmful anti-voter bill HB2305 was referred to the November 2014 ballot.

Now the same politicians who passed HB2305 are trying to repeal it in a desperate attempt to circumvent the referendum process. First they thought they could pass this harmful bill without the scrutiny of voters, now they think they can kill the referendum to avoid being held accountable by the voters.

We think HB2305 is bad because it will hurt voters. Republicans now are trying to repeal it because they think it will hurt them politically. The Legislature has no right to do an end-run around the referendum and the Arizona Constitution, which gives the citizens the right to veto any bill from the Legislature. Additionally, without a referendum, Republicans will be free to pass more harmful anti-voter bills in the future. The Republicans in the Legislature cannot be trusted.

Join us at the State Capitol as we let the Republicans in the Legislature know that we will hold them accountable for taking away the right of the voters to weigh in on this important issue.

What:Day of Action to demand that the voters are not silenced and allowed to vote on HB2305 in November

Our lawless legislature continues to demonstrate its contempt for the citizens of Arizona and their constitutional right to refer an act of the legislature to the voters to decide in a citizens referendum ("citizens veto"). The larger context here is its utter contempt for democracy and the right to vote.

More than 140,000 Arizonans braved the heat of an Arizona summer to circulate and sign petitions to refer HB 2305, the GOP Voter Suppression Act, to the ballot in November to let the people decide on what the legislature enacted as a "strike everything" amendment in the dead of night when no one was watching. There was no public notice, and no public hearing before a committee.

(If you want to outlaw something in the Arizona Constitution, let's start with the "strike everything" amendment. All bills should have to be filed, noticed for public hearing, and proceed through "regular order" of committee hearings and floor amendments.)

More than 140,000 Arizona citizens signed petitions for a "citizens veto" of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to refer the legislature's anti-democratic measure to the voters in a referendum.

Tea-Publicans, fearing retaliation from the voters in November, are moving to deny Arizona citizens their constitutional right to vote on this citizens-referred referendum -- making it a two-fer for voter suppression, and demonstrating their utter disdain for your constitutional rights.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted for SB 1270 (.pdf), the Senate version of Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, on a party-line 6-3 vote. It now goes to the Rules Committee.

Commenter “Robert” alerted me to an “in-depth analysis” of Friday’s court decision dismissing the anti-Medicaid expansion lawsuit by Arizona’s Own Espresso Pundit. EP warns liberals like myself not to be too sanguine about the judge’s ruling that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing.

Your presence is requested. For those of you who have signed up for a legislative account to submit testimony online, now's your chance.

There's more GOP batshit crazy on Tuesday when the Teabaggers meet in the ironically named House Federalism, and Fiscal Responsibility Committee, Agenda (.pdf), in Room HHR 1 at 2:00 p.m.

Yowsa! The Teabaggers want a Constitutional Convention so they can discard the U.S. Constitution and start all over, because that is what happened the last time we did this in 1787 to rewrite the Articles of Confederation. I always find it amusing that the very people who like to call themselves "constitutional conservatives" are so hellbent on wanting to rewrite the U.S. Constitution (many of them much prefer the Articles of Confederation -- states rights!)

HCR 2017 (.pdf) is an "application for an Article V Convention to propose amendments to the United States (U.S.) Constitution." And what is it that the Teabaggers want?

Impose fiscal restraints on the federal government;

Limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and

Limit the terms of office for officials of the federal government.

HCR 2017 (.pdf) calls for a balanced budget amendment, one of the most ignorant proposals of all time. It would mean (a) eliminating almost all government programs, even curtailing national defense and (b) everyone paying higher taxes. God forbid we have a national emergency like a major natural disaster or a war.

In addition to attempting to repeal HB 2305 to deny the voters of Arizona their constitutional right to vote on a bill that the voters referred to the ballot as a referendum, there are several other election/campaign finance bills coming up in the Arizona legislature this week.

One of the principal architects of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, Sen. Michele Reagan, who has fantasies of becoming our next Secretary of State to make it easier for her to suppress your vote, has several bills scheduled in her Elections Committee on Tuesday Agenda (.pdf), Room SHR 1 at 2:00 p.m.

Remember how Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth swore last week that he was not aware of any legislator attempting to revive elements of HB 2305? Yeah, that was bullshit, and everyone knew it.

SB 1232 (.pdf) would "require circulators who are not residents of this state (non-residents) and paid petition circulators to register with the Secretary of State (SOS) prior to circulating petitions and prescribes circulator registration information." The bill also "permits any person to challenge the lawful registration of circulators in the superior court of the county in which the circulator is registered."

The bill "Conditions the enactment of the following provisions on the approval or rejection of Laws 2013, chapter 209, the subject of referendum petition R-03-2014, at the next general election, or the failure of Laws 2013, chapter 209 to be referred to the ballot at the next general election:

a) eliminates the requirement that non-resident circulators register with the SOS prior to circulating petitions and eliminates the requirement that the SOS provide for a method of receiving service of process for registered non-resident circulators.

b) directs the SOS to remove all petition sheets collected by a circulator who fails to register as required.

SB 1469 (.pdf) "Allows a person having an interest that is or may be adversely affected by a constitutional provision or a statute that was enacted by voter approved initiative or referendum to file a civil action in superior court on that person’s own behalf or to join an action as a matter of right alleging a violation of any portion of that measure, or defend an action in superior court on that person’s own behalf or to join in the defense of an action as a matter of right in defense of any portion of that measure." Senate Majority Whip Adam Driggs is the principal sponsor.

This is a "teabaggers want to reverse your citizen-approved initiatives and referendums" vexatious litigation free-for-all. Those health care and education citizens initiatives that Arizona voters passed over the years -- they are in the teabaggers' cross-hairs.

I took the time this morning to watch the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's HB 2196 to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305. "Fast Eddie" was in high dudgeon, taking offense to any suggestion that he or his committee are plotting an end-run around the citizens referendum ("citizens veto") of HB 2305 by repealing it, only to reenact it in smaller bills.

"Fast Eddie" sounded like the stereotypical Southern genteel gentleman, ""I do declare! Sir, you have offended my tender Southern sensibilities by impugning my character. I challenge you to a duel at dawn!" He must need a ladder to get up on his high horse.

His first victim was a witness from the League of Women Voters, which opposes HB 2196 (damn Dude, I though everyone loves the ladies at the LWV). "Fast Eddie" stated that he hasn't introduced any bill to replace HB 2305, and insisted "I have no knowledge" of any effort to break it up into pieces and to reintroduce the bill (he obviously does not read the newspapers where legislators are quoted saying this), on the other hand . . . "that doesn't mean it won't happen." HB 2305 "was my bill" and "I've made my postion clear. We'll repeal it and see what happens."

Jennifer Laredo of the Arizona Education Association, which also opposes HB 2196, echoed the same concerns as the League of Women Voters. Laredo bluntly stated that we can't get a definitive answer regarding any end-run around the citizens refrendum. There is no commitment from the legislature.

Your presence is requested. For those of you who have signed up for a legislative account to submit testimony online, now's your chance.

Rep. "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305 subject to a citizens referendum ("citizens veto"), HB 2196 (.pdf), will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. January 30, at 10:00 a.m. in Room HHR 4. Even the the Arizona Repuublic's Laurie Roberts is warning the Legislature plotting end run around voters on election law: a fair amount of skullduggery is afoot:

Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, is running a bill – HB 2196 — that would repeal last year’s election law changes. The bill will be heard at 10 a.m. Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.

Sounds good, right? The Legislature is handed its first referendum in 16 years and it responds by killing the referred law, seemingly heeding the will of at least 111,000 voters.

Well, don’t get too choked up over our leaders’ reverence for the will of the people.

A Republican insider has told me that the plan is to repeal last year’s election law then pass a series of up to six new bills, enacting the same measures that 111,000 voters put on hold last year.

You would never know it today by the religious zealots who have hijacked the GOP, but not that long ago the Republican Party had a very active Republican Women for Choice organization, and women for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which included First Lady Betty Ford. The ERA came up short of passage in 1982, under the deadline established by Congress.

First Ladies Rosalynn Carter and Betty Ford at a rally for ERA, 11/19/1977.

People have forgotten what was at stake in the fight over the ERA. Justice Antonin Scalia has a long history of expressing skepticism toward the Constitution’s shield against laws that discriminate against women. He he has repeatedly claimed that the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of “equal protection of the laws” does not prevent gender discrimination:

“Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t. Nobody ever thought that that’s what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws.”

Justice Scalia is correct. The 14th Amendment was intended to eliminate the vestiges of slavery and racial discrimination in America (freed slaves and Chinese immigrants in California were the focus of the congressional debate). Equal rights for women was not debated by Congress.

So the "editorial board" of The Arizona Republic, formerly known as The Arizona Republican, and the mouthpiece of the establishment Republican Party in Arizona, editorializes today that it is all for House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny you, the citizens of Arizona, your constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum.

More than 100,000 Arizona citizens signed the petitions for a "citizens veto" of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to vote to veto the legislature's anti-democratic measure.

This opinion clearly is not shared by everyone at the Republic. Columnist Laurie Roberts called the Republican legislature's attempt to repeal a measure referred to the ballot for a "citizens veto" as "skullduggery." Are legislators plotting end run around voters in election-law referendum? Columnist E.J. Montini said this action shows "exactly how much the Republicans who control the Legislature resent Arizona voters." Will lawmakers vote to deny your vote? Columnist Linda Valdez has not written an opinion on the subject recenty, but in the past has opposed the GOP Voter Suppression Act.

I cleared my schedule so I could watch the House Judiciary Committee debate two controversial bills this morning, but after a late start it was announced that the bills had been pulled from the agenda to "work on language." I hate when that happens!

-- House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny the citizens of Arizona their constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum (and to clear the way for the GOP to enact other voter suppression bills this session).

-- House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2153 (.pdf), the House version of Sen. Steve Yarbrough's (R-Chandler) religious bigotry bill, SB 1062 (.pdf), for Mullah Cathi Herrod and her Christian Taliban at the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP), which would effectively give a license to any individual -- and to any corporation, association, foundation or other fictional legal entity ("corporations are people my friend") -- the right to discriminate against others simply by invoking the "magic words" that it is "my sincerely held religious beliefs." This is an attempt to eviscerate state and federal civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination. Ostensibly about "hatin' on the gays," Sen. Yarbrough acknowledged there may be individuals who have religious beliefs about unmarried women, or even employing people who do not share their same beliefs.

First Step in Effort to Circumvent Protect Your Right to Vote Referendum

PHOENIX -- The Legislature will attempt on Thursday to revive a massive effort to make it more difficult for Arizonans to vote in 2014, a plan that had been put on ice by a successful citizen’s referendum during the summer.

The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee referendum gathered over 146,000 signatures to put the omnibus House Bill 2305 – which would prevent tens of thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots if it becomes law – to a statewide vote in 2014. According to recent media reports, incumbent lawmakers bent on getting tough with voters intend to circumvent the referendum vote by first repealing HB2305, and then re-passing the various voter roadblocks as new individual bills this session.

Step one begins Thursday morning when the House Judiciary Committee hears House Bill 2196, which repeals last session’s HB2305. Judiciary Chairman Eddie Farnsworth, R-Mesa, is the sponsor of both bills. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. in House Hearing Room 4, 1700 W. Washington Street.

"Republican Sen. Adam Driggs of Phoenix, who has had discussions with both Reagan and McComish about repealing the law, said he can’t control what bills lawmakers decide to introduce. But he said he would discourage lawmakers from immediately sponsoring new legislation including measures from a repealed HB2305."

Several capitol observers have been warning about this possibility for some time now. The face of voter suppression in Arizona, Sen. Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale), is now preparing to proceed with a despicable plan to deprive the voters of Arizona of their citizens referendum ("citizens veto") of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, that she co-authored by pulling an Emily Litella: "Never mind!"

That's right, the evil GOP bastards, seeking to deprive the Democratic Party of a major motivational tool for their base voters to turn out in force in November, is proposing to repeal HB 2305, and then to enact portions of the law as new legislation. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports Legislators consider preemptive repeal of controversial election bill:

Lawmakers are considering introducing legislation to repeal last year’s election reform bill, HB2305, which remains on hold because opponents gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the law this November.

Republican Sen. Michele Reagan of Scottsdale said she is working with leadership to repeal the bill before it goes up for the referendum election. However, she would like lawmakers to go back and pass portions of the bill once again in 2015.

Now the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star wants to extend this fiscally reckless amd irresponsible idea [Tucson public employee pension initiative] to state and local governments in Arizona through a statewide initiative. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Initiative would tie government spending to pension funding:

A proposed ballot measure would effectively bar state and local governments from increasing spending across the board until its employee pension systems are adequately funded.

[The purposefully deceptively named] Responsible Budgets Act, which was filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, would bar political entities with underfunded pension systems from increasing spending, except for inflation and population growth. A provision in the initiative defines “adequately funded” as 80 percent funded.

[I-02-2014 Responsible Budgets in Support of Proposition __ and Petition Serial # ____, full text of initiative: PDF]

I am guessing that the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" Death Star is also behind this latest bill attacking the state employee pension system as well, sponsored by its waterboy, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills). Lawmaker seeks to allow cuts in public pensions:

An Arizona lawmaker wants the state constitution amended to allow cuts to public employee pensions and increases in employee contributions if the systems are badly underfunded.

Republican Rep. John Kavanagh introduced a bill [HCR 2001 (.pdf)] that would refer the proposal to the voters. He said in an interview he is targeting automatic cost-of-living increases but acknowledged nothing in his proposal would prevent cuts to existing pensions.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay order in the Utah marriage equality case, pending the appeal in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals which has ordered a expedited briefing schedule. Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog.com reports, Court stops Utah gay marriages (UPDATED):

The Supreme Court on Monday morning put on hold a federal judge’s decision striking down Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage, thus stopping a wave of such marriages across the state. The Court’s order reinstates the state ban and will keep it intact until after a federal appeals court has ruled on it.

The order appeared to have the support of the full Court, since there were no noted dissents. The ruling can be interpreted as an indication that the Court wants to have further exploration in lower courts of the basic constitutional question of state power to limit marriage to a man and a woman. Had it refused the state’s request for delay, that would have left at least the impression that the Court was comfortable allowing same-sex marriages to go forward in the thirty-three states where they are still not permitted by state law.

The order, however, cannot be interpreted as a dependable indication of how the Court will rule on the issue when it finally decides to do so directly.

* * *

As a result of the new order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, based in Denver, will go forward with an expedited review of Judge Shelby’s decision. The appeals court has ordered briefing to begin on January 27 and to be completed by February 25. It has indicated it is not likely to grant any extensions of time to file those documents. It has not yet set a hearing date.

With the Justices’ order in the case, it now appears almost certain that the question of state power to bar same-sex marriages will not be before the Justices during the current Term. A case on that issue would have to be granted this month to be reviewed before the Court is expected to finish this Term in late June.

AZ Republicans are well known for balancing the budget on the backs of children. Starting with a near-bottom education funding per child in the country, they cut 21% more over the past few years -- the highest cuts in the nation, naturally. Funding went back up a bit recently. Now it's only a 17% cut because the courts forced them to put back some of the money they were under legal obligation to include to account for inflation (and of course, they're fighting the ruling).

Now Rep John Kavanagh wants to protect children on the backs of children. He proposes taking 25% from First Things First which funds the Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board and give it to CPS to help it take care of its 6,000 case backlog and other problems. That comes to $45 million a year.

How nice of him to be generous with funds from a program Republicans love to hate. They tried to sweep funds from First Things First in 2009. The AZ Supreme Court nixed the move unanimously. Then they tried to repeal First Things First funding by ballot measure in 2010, only to have it voted down 70%-30%.

Here's an idea, Republicans. Stop starving the budget. Create some reasonable tax hikes on people and businesses that can afford it (taxpayers are shouldering a larger portion of taxes now, with businesses, including out-of-state corporations, paying less) and create a budget that gives our children what responsible adults are always supposed to give children: a helping hand.

Maybe CPS should consider taking funding for children away from the legislature and put it in more responsible hands.

Democrats in Arizona now have a primary race for Secretary of State -- the chief elections officer in Arizona. Sen. Leah Landrum Taylor (LD 16) is joined by former Attorney General Terry Goddard as of Monday. Democrat Goddard to run for secretary of state.

On the Republican side we have the co-author of the GOP Voter Supression Act, HB 2305, Sen. Michele Reagan (subject to a "citizens veto" referendum on the 2014 ballot), Rep. Justin Pierce, former state Sen. Jack Harper, and self-funded millionaire Wil Cardon.

So let me lay down some markers of what I expect to hear from the candidates in the way of policy proposals for election law in Arizona.

In a universal voter registration system, it would be the government's obligation to ensure that every eligible citizen was registered to vote. Individual citizens could opt out if they wished, but the registration process itself would no longer serve as a barrier to the right to vote.

Here are some of the important ways that federal policy can and should encourage the states to improve on the current voter registration system:

1. Mandate that the states put systems in place that would phase in universal voter registration, while preserving the states' ability to experiment with different systems.

2. Require states to immediately implement permanent registration, so that voters wouldn't have to re-register if they moved within a state.

3. Require states to implement Election Day registration, as a fail-safe mechanism for eligible voters missing from the voter rolls for any reason.

4. Provide the federal funding that states would need to ensure that every eligible voter is registered.

In 2013, Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown came within one vote in the state senate of passage of House Bill 3521, a universal voter registation bill, when a Democratic senator balked at voting for the bill. Secretary Brown promises to bring this bill back again in 2014.

The beta testing lab for Tea-Publican tyranny in America is Michigan. Tea-Publicans have used a financial emergency manager law to dissolve democratically elected city governments and school districts, and impose a dictator financial manager appointed by and answerable only to the governor. Democracy exists in name only in Michigan.

Tea-Publicans have starved the city of Detroit of state revenue sharing and forced into a Chapter 9 bankruptcy liquidation as a means of "legally" breaching a constitutionally mandated guarantee to public employee pensioners and looting their retirement security.

And this actually happened last week: the Michigan state legislature passed a bill that requires women to buy separate coverage for abortion if they want to have coverage for it at all, dubbed "rape insurance" by opponents. In Michigan, the meaning of 'rape insurance':

For those you who want to act aghast that I’d use a term like “rape insurance” to describe the proposal here in front of us, you should be even more offended that it’s an absolutely accurate description of what this proposal requires. This tells women that were raped and became pregnant that they should have bought special insurance for it. By moving forward on this initiative, Senate Republicans want to essentially require Michigan women to plan ahead and financially invest in healthcare coverage for potentially having their bodies violated and assaulted. Even worse, it would force parents to have similar and unthinkably terrible discussions about planning the same for their daughters. I’ve said it before and I will say it again: This is by far one of the most misogynistic proposals I’ve ever seen in the Michigan legislature.

Progressive voices were heard loud and clear at Saturday’s Arizona Democratic Party (ADP) State Committee Meeting in Maricopa, Arizona.

Unlike some past ADP meetingswhere progressives were ignored or where progressive resolutions were tabled and not heard by the full ADP membership, the Maricopa meeting was dominated by progressives.

During the morning caucus meetings, approximately 80 members of the progressive caucus (pictured here) met in the booming high school cafeteria to hear about legalization of marijuana, the plight of Dreamers, and a host of progressive resolutions.

Under a law Arizona voters approved in 2006, Katherine Castillo and others earning minimum wage will receive a 10-cent-per-hour increase to $7.90 starting Jan. 1. For tipped workers, the state minimum wage will rise from $4.80 to $4.90 per hour.

It will mark the fourth straight year that Arizona has had a higher minimum wage than the federal hourly rate of $7.25, which has remained the same since 2009.

Unfortunately, like all reporting about the minimum wage, the reporter allowed the spokespersons for industries that exploit workers by paying extemely low wages to comment on the minimum wage, without ever challenging their boilerplate talking points:

Rick Murray, CEO of the Arizona Small Business Association, said the law hurts the state’s workforce because it goes against the ideals of a business where wages depend on the demand of a certain skill.

“I’m against the fact that the minimum wage is mandated by the government when it should be market-driven,” he said.

Steve Chucri, president and CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association, said that raising the minimum wage forces higher operating costs on the food industry can lead to layoffs.

Brad Flahiff, director of development at Barnett Management Co., which operates Burger King franchises in Arizona, said that constantly increasing the minimum wage hurts employees as well as employers.

“It harms the people who are doing better and those who either don’t have those skills yet or are not performing at the same level,” he said. “And yet we are forced to reward them the same way.”

This is, of course, bullshit. What else would you expect from industries that rely on the exploitation of workers?

Earlier this year I told you about the Virginia-based ballot initiative activist Paul Jacob, and his Liberty Initiative Fund that was behind the City of Tucson public employee pension initiative which failed to qualify for the ballot. As I told you, this right-wing organization was behind a Tea Party group called Cincinnati for Pension Reform, which did qualify this model pension initiative for the ballot in Cincinnati in November. Tucson and Cincinnati confront the same model pension initiative (Prop. 201).

Peter McLinden, Cincinnati-area Regional Director at AFSCME Ohio Council 8, released this statement:

"Today's
vote will be heard beyond Cincinnati and sends a message for those on
the ideological extremes who think it is ok to impose their agenda on an
entire city. Had this passed, outside money and political extremists
would have cost Cincinnati taxpayers more money, with less services.
... That said we all are dedicated to working together moving forward
to fix the pension system in a way that is in the best interest of
Cincinnati public employees and taxpayers."

A bunch of teabaggers in rural Colorado got together and decided that they wanted to "secede" from the "librul" state of Colorado and start their own state, North ColoradoTeabagistan, "where men are men, women are scarce, and sheep are scared."

This became a cause célèbre in the conservative media entertainment complex which routinely peddles long discredited and unconstitutional Neo-Confederate fantasies about interposition, nullification and secession.

Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said the 51st state movement is halted — at
least in his county — but there were positive benefits from the secession campaign.

"Weld County voters said this is an option we shouldn't pursue and we won't pursue it," Conway said Tuesday night. "But we will continue to look at the problems of the urban and rural divide in this state."

On the very same day that the current Secretary of State certified the referendum ("citizens veto") of HB 2305 -- the Voter Suppression Act -- to the ballot in 2014, the co-author of that bill, Sen. Michele Reagan announced her candicacy for Secretary of State. Awesome!Sen.
Reagan enters race for secretary of state post:

State Sen. Michele Reagan formally entered the race for Arizona
secretary of state on Tuesday, touting her experience in business and
election matters. [Such as drafting voter suppression bills.]

* * *

She noted her experience this year as chairman of the Elections Committee.

That background, she said, makes her well-suited to be secretary of
state, a job that includes overseeing elections and managing business
filings.

We note your experience as chairman of the Elections Committee as well -- you are the face of voter suppression in Arizona. You also refuse to consider any bills that would bring transparency and disclosures to campaign finance laws to end the practice of "dark money" contributions from anonymous sources. You are a terrible candidate for Secretary of State.

Sen. Reagan will face a GOP primary against self-funded millionaire Wil Cardon, who lost a bid for U.S. Senate last year, and Rep. Justin Pierce, who is running Clean Elections because Wil Cardon accused him of a conflict of interest with his father Gary Pierce serving on the Arizona Corporation Commission. So much nepotism and sense of entitlement among rich kids.

PHOENIX – Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett today certified that
the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee’s referendum of House Bill 2305
will be on the 2014 ballot.

Bennett confirmed that the Committee gathered just under 111,000 valid
signatures -- far eclipsing the necessary 86,405 to qualify -- and that
the Committee’s validity rate was an astounding 80 percent. A broad and
diverse coalition of more than 25 non-profit civic engagement
organizations worked to gather the signatures in just three months after
the Legislature narrowly passed the controversial effort to get tough
on voters in June.

“Today was a big win for Arizona voters and voting rights, but it’s
only part of the battle,” said Julie Erfle, chairwoman of the Protect
Your Right to Vote Committee. “The public response to our effort has
been overwhelming across party lines, and we are absolutely confident
that Arizona voters will toss these unnecessary and self-serving voting
roadblocks in the dumpster where they belong. It’s not right for
politicians to try and game the system by putting up barriers to voters
who might not support them, and by making criminals out of campaign
volunteers. This blatant power grab has now been derailed, and I predict
that House Bill 2305 will be an albatross and a curse for any
politician who supported it.”

Erfle added that the majority of the signatures that the Committee gathered came from registered independents and Republicans.

Good job people! Petition signature verification typically has a "bad signature" failure rate in excess of 40 percent. But even with the "strict compliance" standard in effect for a referendum of a legislative act, you managed a signature verification rate in excess of 80 percent! This is unheard of. Give yourself a pat on the back and an "attaboy!"

The referendum effort against HB 2305, the
law making sweeping changes to Arizona’s elections, has the necessary
valid signatures to force a referendum election on the law during the
2014 election.

Though three counties are still validating signatures, the effort
already has more than 100,000 signatures validated – well over the
86,405 necessary to force a referendum election.

According to figures provided to by the secretary of state’s office,
5,242 signatures have been deemed valid by county recorders’ offices
across the state. By law, that figure is multiplied by 20 – the
signatures sent to county recorders were a random sample totaling 5
percent of the total – giving the referendum effort 104,840 valid
signatures, far more than the 86,405 needed to put the law on hold until
voters weigh in on the 2014 ballot.

City staff will be on hand tonight at a community forum to discuss the two propositions appearing on this year's City ballot: Prop. 401, a permanent $50M adjustment to the City's base expenditure limitation; and Prop. 402, the City's new General Plan. Both measures were referred to November's ballot by Mayor and Council. Both measures, under Arizona law, require voter approval in order to take effect.

The coalition fighting the election law approved by the Legislature this year filed 139,161 signatures that passed the first round of verification from the Secretary of State’s Office.

The office tossed 237 petition sheets
containing more than 2,300 signatures for technical reasons. An
unreported number of individual signatures were also thrown out for
technical reasons, said Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Secretary of State
Ken Bennett.

* * *

The remaining signatures must have an
overall validity rate of roughly 62 percent in order to force a
referendum against the law. Referendum backers like Robbie Sherwood,
spokesman for the Protect Your Right to Vote Campaign, are confident enough of the signatures will be validated to make it happen.

“To lose less than 5 percent (on the first review) we thought was
very good, and we were very happy with that. Certainly it’s not over,
and we’re not counting our chickens before they hatch, but we’re
confident we’ll have the signatures,” he said.

The Secretary of State’s Office announced Monday that it is sending a
random 5 percent sample of the 139,161 signatures to each of the
state’s 15 county recorders, who will check the validity of signatures
from their counties.

Within 15 days of receiving the 5 percent
sample, each county must calculate the percentage of valid signatures
from registered voters in the county and return the petition sheets,
along with the total validity rate, back to the Secretary of State’s
Office.

The Arizona Supreme Court declined to make an expedited ruling on the
Committee for Sustainable Retirement Benefits appeal to overturn an
appellate court decision that booted the initiative from the November
ballot.

The Supreme Court said they would review the appellate
court decision at a later date, but the deadline to make this year’s
ballot was Monday at 5 p.m.

As I previously posted:

Here is the question the Tucson media has yet to demonstrate any
interest in answering. Paul Jacob and his Liberty
Initiative Fund specializes in ballot measures. Jacob did not pick
Tucson at random for this pension initiative. Someone in Tucson brought
this guy to town for this initiative. The individuals fronting for the
Committee for Sustainable Retirement -- Joseph LaRusso, sales director
for Western Emissions, Inc., and Jack Heather, a CPA, PLLC -- are not
the individuals responsible for bringing this out-of-state agitator to
Tucson. That would be someone among the usual suspects in the GOP
hierarchy in Pima County.

The Tucson media has an obligation to discover and to report who is really
behind this Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201), and
to find out what is driving this plot to financially bankrupt the City
of Tucson and to turn us into Detroit. Start digging, the public is
entitled to know the answers.

The local Tucson media is covering up for the usual suspects in the GOP
hierarchy in Pima County by failing to report on who is really
behind the Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201). The coward ought to come forward and take ownership.

Why Marriage Matters Arizona kicked off its educational campaign today in Phoenix and Tucson, with an eye towards building a broad-based coalition of faith community, business community, and nonpartisan political support for the fundamental right of freedom to marry for everyone without invidious state-sanctioned discrimination against any individual based upon his or her sex or gender. This coalition will support a ballot initiative for freedom to marry in 2016. Campaign launches to move marriage forward in Arizona:

PHOENIX AND TUCSON, Ariz. – In an effort to remove
discrimination from Arizona’s Constitution and win the freedom to marry
for all couples in the state, Equality Arizona, the American Civil
Liberties Union of Arizona, the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to
Marry have launched a campaign called Why Marriage Matters Arizona.

Why Marriage Matters Arizona is a grassroots public
education campaign to build support for the freedom to marry in Arizona.
The campaign will open a dialogue with Arizonans about why marriage is
important to same-sex couples and their families and is consistent with
the values of liberty and freedom.

“Everyone should have the freedom to marry the person they love in
the state that they call home, and that includes same-sex couples in
Arizona,” said Rebecca Wininger, president of Equality Arizona. “The
national landscape for marriage is shifting rapidly. It’s time to get
the conversation started here in Arizona.”

Constitutional provisions enacted by the voters through initiative or
referendum can only be repealed by the voters through another
initiative or referendum. At least, this is how it is supposed to work.

The ballot referendum proposed by the Arizona Legislature in 1979 to
amend the Arizona Constitution to impose a "resign to run" law was
approved by the voters at the 1980 general election. Article 22, Section 18
of the Arizona Constitution provides "Except during the final year of
the term being served, no incumbent of a salaried elective office,
whether holding by election or appointment, may offer himself for
nomination or election to any salaried local, state or federal office."

The "resign to run" law was undermined a few years ago by an
incorrectly decided court decision in the case of John Huppenthal, which
has become known as the "Huppenthal Rule": candidates can file an
exploratory committee and collect money and signatures before
"officially" declaring their candidacy. Back in the day, the courts actually enforced the "resign to run" law, see Conrad Joyner v. Rose Mofford, 706 F.2d 1523 (1983). Somehow, the court decided to carve out an exception for Mr. Huppenthal.

Earlier this year, Rep. John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills) sponsored HB2157, which
effectively nullifies what little remained of the "resign to run" law
through legislative legerdemain, without referral of the measure to the
voters. Under his bill, an elected official will only be considered a candidate for
another office after filing his or her nominating papers for that office. This is known as "the exception swallowing the rule of law."

Last November, Arizona voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 115, a citizens initiative by the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) that would have given the governor more say in appointing judges to the state’s appeals courts and the superior courts in its three largest counties. The CAP assault on the independence of the judiciary.

Not to be deterred, our "Sun King" Tea-Publican legislature enacted HB 2600 earlier this year to get what they and the CAP demanded, despite the will of the voters. "Screw the voters! I am the law!"

The Arizona Constitution cannot be
amended by a simple legislative act, it must be amended by approval of the voters. So four members of the commission that nominates judicial candidates for
the state’s appellate courts filed a special action in the
Arizona Supreme Court, asking the high court to throw out the law on the
grounds that it is unconstitutional. Effort targets judicial picks.

Today, the Arizona Supreme Court struck down HB 2600 as unconstitutional. The larger issue which remains is our lawless legislature's creeping encroachment on the independent judiciary on behalf of the CAP.

The Plaintiffs challenging the petitions of the Initiative to
Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201) filed an appeal from Pima County
Superior Court Judge James Marner's order on September 3, 2013. (2 CA-CV 2013-0120).

On September 12, the Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the plaintiffs/appellants, rejected the cross-appeal by counsel for the initiative committee, and remanded the case back to Pima County
Superior Court Judge James Marner with instructions to grant the injunctive relief requested by plaintiffs to prevent Prop. 201 from being printed on ballots:

Having considered the briefs filed by the parties and the oral arguments
before this court in this expedited election appeal, see Ariz. R. Civ.
App. P. 8.1, this court has determined that the trial court erred in
rejecting the plaintiffs/appellants/cross-appellees’ challenge as to the
validity of certain signatures obtained by circulators of City of
Tucson Initiative Petition 2013-1004. We further conclude the
cross-appeal raises no issues warranting relief. Accordingly, it is
ORDERED: The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the case is
remanded to the trial court which is directed by 2:00 p.m., September
12, 2013, to enter judgment in favor of
plaintiffs/appellants/cross-appellees and to enter an injunction
pursuant to A.R.S. § 19-122(C). A written opinion will follow.

That mandate for injunction does not yet appear on the Pima County Superior Court docket for this case.

The "citizens veto" (referendum) of the Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, has more than enough signatures to qualify for the 2014 ballot. Thanks to all the many hundreds of volunteers for your hard work and dedication in collecting signatures during a blazing hot Arizona summer.

Your right to vote is sacrosanct, and those GOP legislators who sought to suppress your right to vote need to be defeated at the ballot box, and HB 2305 "vetoed."

PHOENIX
– The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee today delivered
approximately 146,000 petition signatures to the Arizona Secretary of
State to put the Legislature’s attempt to get tough on Arizona voters to
a vote of the people. An unprecedented coalition of more than 25
non-profit civic engagement organizations joined together to stand up
for Arizona voting rights and put House Bill 2305 on the Nov. 2014
ballot. The Legislature passed the bill -- which changed almost 20
separate areas of election law with virtually no public testimony-- by a
near party-line vote in June. The Committee is confident it has enough
valid signatures to exceed the 86,405 threshold to put the referendum on
the ballot, said Chairwoman Julie Erfle.

“Voters will have their say after all,” said Erfle. “It was wrong
for career politicians to try and influence elections by putting up
roadblocks for voters who might not agree with them and to make
criminals out of dedicated campaign volunteers. As we gathered
signatures, even in the heat of an Arizona summer and in the face of
efforts to block our signature drive, we were inspired by the
willingness of Arizonans to stand up for voting rights. We found strong
support from voters of all political stripes, persuasions and
backgrounds. That does not bode well for the authors and supporters of
HB2305, including many Arizona legislators.”

Protect Your Right to Vote to deliver signatures referring HB2305 to the ballot

The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee, a broad and
diverse coalition of more than 20 organizations working together to put
House Bill 2305 to a vote of the people, will deliver petition
signatures to the Secretary of State office Wednesday afternoon.
Chairwoman Julie Erfle and representatives from participating
organizations will be present and available for media interviews.

What: The Protect Your Right to Vote Committee will file
petition signatures to the Secretary of State office. Numerous
volunteers from more than 20 different organizations contributed to the
effort since signature gathering began on July 1. More information about
HB2305 can be found here.

Who: Volunteers from more than 20 organizations will be
on hand to deliver the collected signatures. Committee chairwoman Julie
Erfle and other Committee leaders will be available for a photo and
video opportunities, and to answer questions regarding the effort to
repeal HB2305.

Opponents of a new law expanding Medicaid
in Arizona say they’re still short of the signatures needed to block
the law and may not file petitions backing a referendum by Wednesday’s
deadline.

A group of conservative Republicans has been circulating petitions to
temporarily block the law and put the referendum on the November 2014
ballot. Organizer Christine Bauserman said as of Monday evening they had
only about 81,000 signatures.

Supporters need 86,405 valid signatures and need a cushion to account
for invalid signatures. They’re aiming for 92,000, and Bauserman says
if they don’t get the extra signatures by Wednesday’s deadline she
likely won’t file the petitions.

Will the political media please stop fawning over Frank Antenori now? It's becoming embarrassing for you.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) has called the state legislature
back into special session to vote on legalizing same-sex marriage, a
step that likely means he’s corralled the necessary votes to pass a
bill.

Democrats have overwhelming majorities in both the state House and
Senate, but some Democratic legislators weren’t on board with a same-sex
marriage bill. Party leaders met in late August to count the votes;
Abercrombie said he would call a special session if legislators could
agree on language that would withstand a court challenge.

“The merits of holding a special session include the opportunity for
the Legislature to focus squarely on this important issue, without
having to divert attention to the hundreds of other bills introduced
during a regular session,” Abercrombie said in a statement.

The IRS recently released a first-time, and alarming, report
on participation in retirement savings accounts, showing that the fewer
and fewer workers are saving for retirement out of their paychecks, and
the amount they are saving is shrinking too, down 6 percent in real
dollars from 2008 to 2010.

David Cay Johnston, investigative journalist
and author, and specialist in economics and tax issues, was one of very
few in the traditional media to register the appearance of this report,
and it's got him worried.

[T]he number of Americans deferring part of their wages into 401(k)-type plans fell in 2009 and again in 2010.

Two-thirds of taxpayers with jobs saved nothing in retirement plans.

Among twenty-somethings, only 1 in 8 or so saved. [...]

Overall, the IRS report and other official data show how government
policy that favors individual savings in 401(k), IRA and similar plans
simply are not meeting the needs of workers, or of American society.

Isn't it bad enough that we have a "vast rght-wing conspiracy" behind the public employee pension initiative aka the Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201)? Now the Goldwater Institute "Kochtopus" tentacle wants to extend this fiscally reckless amd irresponsible idea to to state and local governments in Arizona through a statewide initiative. The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports, Initiative would tie government spending to pension funding:

A proposed ballot measure would effectively
bar state and local governments from increasing spending across the
board until its employee pension systems are adequately funded.

[The purposefully deceptively named] Responsible Budgets Act, which was filed with the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on Friday, would bar political entities with underfunded pension systems from increasing
spending, except for inflation and population growth. A provision in the
initiative defines “adequately funded” as 80 percent funded.

[I-02-2014 Responsible Budgets in Support of Proposition __ and Petition Serial # ____, full text of initiative: PDF]

As the great baseball sage Yogi Berra once said, "It ain't over 'til it's over."

The Plaintiffs challenging the petitions of the Initiative to Bankrupt the City of Tucson (Prop. 201) filed an appeal from Pima County Superior Court Judge James Marner's order on September 3, 2013. (2 CA-CV 2013-0120).

Pursuant to Plaintiffs/Appellants’ Notice of Filing Appeal and Notice of
Expedited Election Matter Pursuant to ARCAP Rule 8.1(c ) and Request
for Scheduling Conference Pursuant to ARCAP 8.1(f),a scheduling conference was held on September 4, 2013. Order below the fold:

Landslide victories on ballot measures to cut pension costs in two major
California cities emboldened reform advocates, who said they expect a
flurry of copycat initiatives. . .

In San Jose, nearly 70% of voters Tuesday approved a plan that gives
workers the choice between increasing their pension contribution to 13%
of their pay, currently 5% to 11%, or switching to a lower-cost plan
with reduced benefits. It also steeply cuts benefits for new hires and
tightens rules for disability retirements.

In San Diego, where pension cuts already have been implemented, voters
opted to eliminate pensions for new workers. By a 66% to 34% margin,
voters Tuesday endorsed Proposition B, which provides newly hired city
employees with a 401(k) program, but preserves traditional pensions for
new police officers.

* * *

Local pension measures have enjoyed resounding success at the ballot.
Before Tuesday's vote, 18 measures to alter a pension system had passed,
and only two had failed, both in San Francisco. On average, those
measures passed with 62.7% of the vote, according to the California
Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a pension-reform advocacy group.

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